I was deeply disappointed to read UR Professor Steve
Landsburg’s recent blogs praising Rush Limbaugh for a “spot-on analogy” with
respect to his offensive remarks about Georgetown student Sandra Fluke
(although Landsburg parted company with Limbaugh for calling Fluke a
“slut”). Landsburg went further. He stated that Ms. Fluke’s position deserved
“only to be ridiculed, mocked and jeered.”
He further stated that the right word for her position was “extortionist,”
characterized those who disagreed with his view as “contraceptive sponges,” and
added that there is nothing wrong with being paid for sex.

Professor
Landsburg has the right to express his views under our University’s deep
commitment to academic freedom. And, of
course, no reasonable person would ever assume that he speaks for the
University of Rochester.

I also have
the right to express my views. I am
outraged that any professor would demean a student in this fashion. To openly ridicule, mock, or jeer a student
in this way is about the most offensive thing a professor can do. We are here to educate, to nurture, to
inspire, not to engage in character assassination.

I totally
disagree with Landsburg that there is nothing wrong with being paid for sex. Having been a Dean of two law schools with
clinics that addressed violence against women, I am all too aware of the
terrible correlation between prostitution and the physical and emotional demeaning
of women.

Landsburg
now has made himself newsworthy as one of Limbaugh’s few defenders. I wish he had focused instead on the ideal
of a university as an institution that promotes the free exchange of ideas and
lively debate at its best in an atmosphere of civil discourse in which the
dignity of every individual is respected.